Site Search Navigation

Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Supported by

What Are We Worst at Covering?

By Nicholas Kristof June 6, 2009 10:32 amJune 6, 2009 10:32 am

What’s the thing that we in the news media are worst at covering?

I would argue that it’s public health. One problem is that we tend to cover things that happen on a particular day, and public health challenges usually unfold every day — so they’re never really considered news. Conversely, we’re at our best covering politics and governments, particularly the decisions that are made on a particular day, because they have drama as well as consequences. They feel like news, in a way that a million people dying annually of malaria does not.

Public health challenges also tend to be unglamorous and overwhelming, and frankly the medical community often isn’t much interested in them either. Look at the Nobels, focused on clinical medicine; I believe there should be a Nobel for Public Health. And public health is related to science, which traditionally has been a weakness in journalism, although coverage has improved dramatically over the last 25 years (and at the Times truly is splendid!).

That’s why you’ve probably never heard of rotavirus. Indeed, even this blog software hasn’t heard of it, and thus underlines it as I write it, thinking it’s a misspelling. Yet rotavirus kills half a million kids a year, almost all in poor countries, through diarrhea. And of course diseases that nobody has heard of tend not to get resources. (One of Bill Gates’s awakenings in public health came when he realized that rotavirus, which at the time he had never heard of, was killing so many children around the world; he’s been a champion on the case ever since.)

Now we have a milestone: WHO has just recommended a rotavirus vaccine as standard in all national immunization programs. If that’s implemented, it could have a significant impact on child mortality. But it’s boring and unglamorous, which is why I wanted to spotlight it here. Congratulations to those who made this happen!

One of the key players, by the way, is GAVI, another unglamorous actor that never gets the attention it deserves. GAVI is a global alliance that promotes vaccines for diseases in the developing world, and that’s one of cheapest and most successful forms of aid around.

I’m curious: What are other things that fall in this category of neglected by the news media because they’re unglamorous, even though they’re incredibly important. I would put micronutrients, maternal mortality, agricultural development high on that list. Your thoughts?

“And public health is related to science, which traditionally has been a weakness in journalism, although coverage has improved dramatically over the last 25 years (and at the Times truly is splendid!).”

Being rather young, I can’t comment much on the improvement of science reporting over the past 25 years, but I can tell you that its definitely, in my opinion, easily the most underreported subject today. I don’t necessarily want to pick on the Times per se, but, other then when Swine Flu caused the big hysteria that it did, when was the last time a Science article made it to the frontpage?

In the above post you state that public health is journalisms biggest failing, and then you mention that most people don’t know what rotavirus is. I argue that public health policy, in terms of providing universal health coverage, is actually reported quite heavily (and rightly so), but that your specific example shows how poorly the science behind public health is snubbed.

Indeed, for something so important its suprising how little science reporting is emphasized in our biggest publications. Science has been solely responsible for our improved standards of living, which in turn has given us the luxury to treat eachother with the respect that human beings deserve. Civilization is a product of our science and I think you would be suprised how quickly it would disappear without our modern technological wonders.

I don’t want to be too harsh Mr. Kristof, because I think you do a beautiful job reporting on something else that is very much underrported as well, which is the plight of the developing world and the billions that live with proverty everyday. But even in this case, science holds the key to alleviating much of the suffering and pain that continues on this planet even today, in an age when it should have been eradicated long ago.

So please, I beg you and the Times, and other major publications, to grace your front pages with a science article or two a day. It has made so much possible for you and me and the rest of the civilized world and it can offer so much more.

I am not sure that clean water gets enough attention. And not the clean water in the West but the almost complete lack of clean water in the developing countries.

We are very fortunate that our government makes it a priority to ensure that the water the comes out of our taps is clean and healthy. Most of water that people drink in the world is not clean and is a serious health hazard to those who drink it, especially children.

In many of these countries the wealthy can afford to install water purification systems in their homes but this just lets their governments off the hook. The poor are left to their own devices to get water or must rely on charitable organizations to help them acquire water that is fit to drink.

I believe one of the most difficult issues to cover is the public health and environmental threats our current industrial food production system poses on the U.S. The conventional ways in which we produce our food is making our children sick, killing our seas and waterways, depleting our natural resources and endangering biodivesity.

As we enter the 21st Century, the world is facing several potential crises: food insecurity, peak oil, climate change, water depletion, topsoil depletion, loss of biodiversity and the threat of widespread infectious diseases. The one industry tied to each of these potential crises is industrial agriculture.

There are many reasons for the lack of coverage: we all have to eat and very few of us, including main stream journalists, want to feel guilty about what we’re eating; the facts and information available about the issue are few, confusing and contradicting; and the food industry’s powerful political influence and marketing power is hampering any significant change in the core issues behind the real threats.

Thank you for asking. The top of the list of “unglamorous, even though they’re incredibly important” items neglected by the media are unconstitutional wars of congressional choice, not necessity.

The second on the list are 2,754 unplanned and unsolved murders on 9-11 that triggered United States mass murder, terrorism, imperialism, larceny, and corruption in two unglamorous and deadly important unconstitutional wars of congressional choice.

Under the Constitution, all United States wars are by congressional choice. Nobody cares. I get jailed.

I think the media (and our culture in general) is extremely hesitant to discuss sex and issues that stem from it. While we do a fair job bringing up things like HIV/AIDS or sex trafficking in other parts of the world, we tend to ignore their presence in the United States.

A particular article I read for a class comes to mind, which highlighted a New York company that was openly selling sex and contributing to the sex trade in SE Asia but faced no troubles existing here in the US. Open discussions about sex make Americans uncomfortable, so the reporting suffers.

A very ignored topic by the media is the end of our American manufacturing infrastructure and expertise. Very, very unglamorous. Yet it’s deeply important. If it gets remarked on at all, there is no discussion of any possible solutions.

I learned in fifth grade that the North beat the South in the Civil War because it had all the manufacturing infrastructure to wage war. If even fifth graders know that you need to be able to manufacture your own armaments, why doesn’t this get more attention?

Indeed you are one of the resounding exceptions of under covered stories. If not for you the chances of me knowing about Rotavirus are slim to none. There should absolutely be a Nobel Prize for Public Health.

Although it is now seen as a dead horse, I think the media has done a stinking bad job of covering the force feeding of debt to the American people (i.e., being sent multiple, unsolicited credit cards in the mail), and its subsequent consequences. When I was a young man, one had to travel to the sleaziest parts of town to find a loan shark. Now, loan sharking has emerged as a retail industry almost on a par, it seems, with McDonald’s. Where was the New York Times through all of this? A classic case, as per Mr. Kristof’s thesis, of the frog in the pot of water.

Mr Kristof, I applaud your commentary. I agree that the field of public health and development continue to go unnoticed and underreported by far too many. I agree, the war in Iraq, politics, and the economy are all important issues. However, arent the aids pandemic, malaria, child malnutrition and POVERTY some of the biggest wars our world is fighting today? I think one of the major reasons the media tends to focus one some issues and leave out others because the average american tends to only focus on issues that dirently concern them.

I recently watched the documentary, ” I am Because we Are,” the film documenting the thousands of children of Malwai that have been orphaned by AIDS, genital mutilation, poverty and the overwhelming lack of appropriate medical care and facilities. Not only was I frustrated with what I saw in Malwai but I was also struck by this message, ” I am Because we Are;” that despite our differences, we are all connected and therefore have a responsibility to one another, we are all connected, what is happening in darfur or Peru or France should be ust as important as issues that direcctly affect us here in America. Providing basic medical rights to a poor child, respecting the rights of women and even educating the average american on the public health situation in Malawi are issues we and the world should learn to care about.

I don’t understand,because here in Lapland our’s media tells hole of time inter alia “rotavirus” etc. We here think, we have right to know everything whats going are here. We live here lucky we,somekind “buble”.

The role of Faith based NGOs in improving people’s lives through education, healthcare, community development and various humanitarian work within most societies are ignored by the media. They are unglamorous and are often looked upon as promoting religion.

There is no doubt that a bit of encouragement to these group of NGOs/organizations will motive them to do more. This will fill the gap left open by lack of public spending by the respective governments whose interests are more on projects that will enhance their political survival.

Reality is what you’re least good at covering. The over-hyping of stories that, taken in context, are not a real threat to the vast majority of people but sound good and might grab a reader’s attention. If context gets in the way of the “Shocking” story then you leave it out.

FYI…The vaccine, is called RotaTeq (approved 1999) hand washing still most effective (rotavirus). Electrolytes stat for dehydration… Perhaps offer solutions to the issue/problem(?) Suggestion: the truth on water supply… Nationally, globally?

Here’s a excerpt from poqeno Texas newspaper… ‘Kirk Holland, general manager of Barton Springs/Edwards AquiferTexas: Kirk Holland, general manager of Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District – which flows into Hays County: On drought: “This is certainly one of the worst droughts in our history,” he said. “We fear that the drought can get deeper if we don’t take stringent measures.” These include “wiser” water usage by district permittees and individuals…, Holland warns that we will dip into the aquifer “more heavily” today than the worst drought record (1950) back then…. All of Hays County is in an extreme drought, with portions under an exceptional drought status, the most severe of the five federal drought categories. As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared the county to be a natural disaster area in late April….’ Agriculture workers are getting anxious about the hot and typically dry summer ahead. Crops are already dying and ranchers are selling off livestock… no rain, no grass, no water, water has to be trucked in or livestock die, so Ag farmers are forced to sell off stock…

Comment: Do we hear about the careless use of water…. personal swimming pools, watering lawns when wells are going dry? The dumbing up of Americans who buy water off the shelf, never hear about it, don’t care, don’t have a clue… much less care to be informed about third world countries dying by the thousands of dehydration every day.

Nick. We need wake up calls… right here in the US… is anyone disgusted at the criminal rate of spending such as Obama’s 2 million dollar weekend outing to New York?… to take his wife on a date via Air Force One….(!?) There is not as much as a sound bite about water shortage and drought. Drought is only a desensitized verb shadowed into a 60 second weather report…

I’m just a citizen, one of the 70 million BB generation facing age discrimination layoffs the entire corporate world is getting away with, who’s worried about recources, who likes what you are writing.

Explain all the the maternal health problems complicated or caused by pregnancy. Explain to people about idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in pregnancy. Explain to people about seizure disorders and psychiatric disorders and the medications used to control them in the picture of pregnancy. Explain to people about hypercoaguable states and thromboembolic disorders and pulmonary embolism. Explain to people about malignancies in pregnancy. Explain to people about TORCH infections and pregnancy. Explain to people what pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP syndrome are, and what the treatment is for each is when a woman is pregnant. Explain to people about lethal or profound fetal genetic anomalies, malformations and inborn errors of metabolism. Explain to people the health consequences close pregnancy spacing.

Yes, it would take some work, education, and multiple repetitions. But, if average people are being drug in and called upon to judge and meddle in something they do not understand, then the media has a compelling duty to educate the public on it, and must resolutely resist repeating talking points from political entities!

The same goes for women’s health in general, but this is more pressing given its highly political character.

Overplayed: political arguments; posturing by attention-starved celebrities and politicians; stories that fit the lazy narratives of editors.

Underplayed: news stories about places like Bangladesh, eastern China, the Seven Sisters of India, and pieces without a dramatic hook, like the public health example you cite. Stories that don’t agree with narrative of aforementioned editors. See: WMD in Iraq.

Because by means of legalized bribery the military/industrial/corporate/financial complex (which includes Big Insurance, Big Pharma, Big Hospital, etc.) has finally achieved its most cherished goal, defacto control of government, universal health care (single payer)–a success in virtually all other civilized nations–will never, EVER, even be considered, let alone adopted, in the U.S.

I think we don’t do a very good job discussing the environmental issues in our own backyards.

Environmental issues suffer the same problem as public health issues, that they are often discovered and resolved through incremental science rather than news flashes. I see mainstream media consistently rehashing the same stories — tales of doom about climate change, toxic disasters, and exotic megafauna.

But the most fascinating and pertinent news that really relates to our lives are the problems in our own back yards, that we could actually fix if we paid attention. For example, we can improve wildlife resources and corridors on our own private property and through neighborhood restorations, or we can bring to light the decades of stalemate on resolving agricultural water pollution (here in Madison, WI at least) and find momentum to move forward.

It’s equally important that the environmental narrative is not always one of doom. As Aldo Leopold said, “Prudence never kindled a fire in the human mind; I have no hope for conservation born of fear.”

Meanwhile, thank you for being our eyes to things most of us would never see, Mr. Kristof.

Who are the stakeholders behind what we read in media sources? There are numerous “fringe” news feeds (available usually via email subscription) that are funded by subscribers. Only. The larger, “mainstream media” are funded by…Do you know? Advertisers, for the most part. Advertisers are not appropriate stakeholders for any media publication because the publication is beholden to them and cannot risk censure, criticism and other issues related to loss of readership. Said readership (of most advertiser-supported mainstream media) is depended upon to click on those adverts in the side columns; but also, they must not be irritated enough to cancel subscriptions, or stop buying newspapers and cease clicking on those adverts.

In any issue you care to examine (my obsession is education), consider the stakeholders behind the institution(s) in question. (The next advance is to consider what the particular stakes are.) That should tell you a whole hell of alot–including why Mr Kristoff can only write about certain matters which are permitted by the stakeholders of the venue for his articles–articles which are not at risk of chasing off the bread and butter of the publication.

What has happened to media has been going on for decades & isn’t just driven by technology, but too much coverage is just about the internet.

There also isn’t enough coverage of the actual business of news.

As media companies make cuts (or even threaten to close down vital newspapers unless workers agree to large layoffs and reductions in salary), how well do they do at basic things like selling subscriptions and advertising.

Do new kinds of advertising like ugly stickers over the skyboxes bring in more money than they lose (or could the stickers only be placed on the front page for home subscribers and on an interior section for single copy sales)?

And what impact do the cuts have on coverage of issues like public health?

What's Next

About Nicholas Kristof

This blog expands on Nicholas Kristof’s twice-weekly columns, sharing thoughts that shape the writing but don’t always make it into the 800-word text. It’s also the place where readers make their voices heard.